One of oldest public high schools in U.S., Hadley's Hopkins Academy, celebrating 350th anniversary

HADLEY –Hopkins Academy is one of the oldest public high schools in the United States, and it is celebrating its 350th anniversary.

“Over the years, it has become a center of sports, culture and political events,” said Joseph P. Pelis, a member of the Class of 1959 and chair of the 350th Hopkins Academy Anniversary Committee. “I love history, and this is a golden opportunity to learn more about the school I graduated from.”

Hopkins Academy is Hadley’s public school for students in grades 7 through 12. U.S. News and World Report in December 2010 named it one of the top schools in the United States.

From a private school for boys preparing for university where they trained for the ministry and for teaching, Hopkins Academy is a free, coeducational public high school that prepares students for college and for life.

As part of the celebration of the school, Hopkins Academy Day will take place May 24 with a display and all-class reunion. The school will be open, and on display will be the numerous trophies that the high school has amassed, vintage photographs and other memorabilia.

Visitors will see a video presentation about the 1956 boys’ basketball team that won 42 games straight.

There will be a dedication ceremony at Hopkins Memorial Park on the school grounds. The park includes a bell from a former school building and a walkway made of bricks inscribed with the names of people who have “purchased them” to contribute to the park.

There will be a display of artwork done by local artists at the First Congregational Church in Hadley on May 23 and 24 in conjunction with Hopkins Academy Day.

The day will culminate with the all-class reunion at the Young Men’s Club beginning with a social hour at 4:30 p.m.

The school will be featured in the Memorial Day parade and tractor show on May 25 at 2 p.m. There will be a block dance at the American Legion after the parade.

The celebration of the school’s 350th anniversary began in September with a golf tournament. Other events have included a banquet, an art gala, an essay contest and a distinguished alumni awards recognition day.

Bernadette (Pipczynski) Wyman, a member of the Class of 1960 and president of the alumni association, said the 350th anniversary is a “huge milestone” for the school and the community. “People are in awe” that the school has been in existence for so long.

She praised the anniversary committee for its work, and said Hopkins is a “wonderful school” where “great kids” get a “great education.”

“I hope it never has to go regional,” she said. “It needs to stay as it is.”

Pelis said the public school has a private school feel, and he credits his high school education with helping him to discern his vocation as a pharmacist.

“People feel the importance of having our own school in our own community,” he said, contemplating other towns that have regionalized secondary education. “It’s hard work, but people want to maintain their own school.”

Pelis recalled the small classes at Hopkins, saying they helped build confidence in an environment where everyone knew one another. Teachers tutored students, and it was like “one big happy family” in which students worked hard academically and competed athletically.

Two members of the current committee were members of the 300th anniversary committee: former principal Joseph Zalot and former history teacher Fred Luddy.

“How many people can say they went to a high school that is 350 years old?” Pelis said, revising a comment made when the school turned 300.

Seventeenth-century London merchant Edward Hopkins expressed concern for the education of the youth of the new world, and in his will he provided the financial assistance necessary “to give some encouragement in those foreign plantations for the breeding of hopeful youths both at the grammar school and college, for the public service of the country in future times.” He was the benefactor of four secondary schools and a college in New England. He died in 1657.

For more information on the 350th anniversary of Hopkins Academy, go online to hopkinsacademy350.org. For more information on Hopkins Academy, go to hadleyhopkins.vt-s.net.